Designer diary: The magic of Budapest

On my flight to Budapest for the last song of Sultan, I am glad to see that I seem to be the youngest person on the flight. All the others are 70 plus, so I start wondering where am I going and what the place will be like. Not to be an ageist, but when we land, my fears disappear. As I drive to my hotel, I see it's this beautiful town with two halves -- Buda and Pesht -- with one side on a mountain and the other, flat land with a river flowing through. Many bridges and of course, the Lion's bridge is where Salman (in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) kept shouting out: Nandani. However, this time Sultan (Salman) and Arfa (Anushka Sharma) are on their honeymoon in the movie. It's nostalgia time as after 17 years we were shooting near the same bridge. I had to click a picture to capture the moment.

I fell in love with the city. Moving around in trams and exploring little bylanes was magical. Every day after shoot we would all head out to these quaint little restaurants for dinner and the Boss (Salman) would ask for all kinds of local food that we would gorge on. But local Indians would hound us and not allow us to eat in peace. There are 300 Indians there out of which 150 would follows us around all day. The other 50 played junior artists in the film and I guess the other 100 were at home or at work.

Anyhow, we managed to capture the song and headed back to Mumbai. I just love this place and hope I don't have to wait for 17 more years to return here. I want to explore this beautiful city with churches, castles and small lanes with fountain squares. Like Arnold said, "I will be back."